Who’s the fool?

Imagine waking up as a young child…you come downstairs…your mom is in the kitchen making breakfast and listening to the radio…she has an excited look on her face as she tells you that the radio reporter says there is a great blue whale in our lake…not only that but it can be seen from the shore…everyone in your small town is going down to the beach to check it out! April Fools! Whales in the fresh water lake…not possible!? Nope. This is my earliest memory of April Fool’s Day.

April Fool’s Day is one of those holiday that I always plan on doing something and then I forget. As you know if you try and fool someone after noon – “then you are the fool.” So, it’s important to have a plan. I usually like to find some sort of inspiration for my holiday ideas. This year’s April Fool’s Day will be inspired by Dr. Seuss’ book, “Wacky Wednesday.”

If you aren’t familiar with “Wacky Wednesday” here’s the synopsis. “It all began with that shoe on the wall. A shoe on the wall…? Shouldn’t be there at all!” As the little boy (or girl…pretty gender neutral) makes his way through the day weird things are happening all around. Now, by wacky Dr. Seuss means worms chasing birds, palm trees in the toilet, strollers being pushed with an alligator on board and houses stacked on top of each other!!

Unfortunately, no one else in the town sees anything wacky…in fact they think the boy is wacky for even suggesting something is wrong. He finally discovers that he has to count up all the wacky things he can see and then go to bed…and that’s how Wacky Wednesday ends! The best part, as the child reading this book, is spotting all the wacky things in the book.

So, how can I use this idea to create a Wacky April Fool’s Day in my house? Well, the shoe appears many times throughout the book. While I cannot stack houses or push an alligator in a stroller, I can stick shoes in unexpected places. Here we go.

The stairwell…a shoe on the wall…that started it all!

The kitchen…shoes on the dish shelf?! (with placemat underneath)

The dining room…the table is wearing shoes?!

Flowers growing out of a boot…on the table!?

These are some of the pranks I will be trying on April Fool’s Day. My youngest daughter is home right now..she saw the flowers in the boot…she laughed and laughed…perfect. I will probably bust out the “whale in the lake” joke too! Really, isn’t April Fool’s Day all about making the kids feel a little confused and making them laugh?

Good luck on April Fool’s Day…let me know what you are planning!

Here are some other sources for great “classic” April Fool’s Day pranks